Archive for 2006

Once upon a time, it was thought that Javascript didn’t have private or protected member class variables and methods. Crockford showed us that this was false.
Globals are generally frowned upon, with very good reason. They open the door for conflicts and unpredictable behavior when you’re using scripts from different places. There are enough [...]

Today I found this very good discussion of the Lisp programming language. Everyone who writes, or aims to write, any fair amount of Javascript ought to learn at least the basics of Lisp. One could say that Lisp’s syntax is perhaps too simplified (the parentheses make me crazy) but the conceptual lessons to [...]

I went through a pack of patches earlier this month. The grossness of them really got to me.
I can’t take stuff stuck to my skin. It’s in the same category as jewelery. If my wedding ring didn’t have such sentimental meaning, it wouldn’t have stayed on my finger through the first day. [...]

The second best thing about space travel is that the distances involved make war very difficult, usually impractical, and almost always unnecessary. This is probably a loss for most people, since war is our race’s most popular diversion, one which gives purpose and color to dull and stupid lives. But it is a great boon to the intelligent man who fights only when he must - never for sport.